The Dark Knight Rises – A Closer Look

What we don’t know

Joseph Gordon-Levitt as John Blake?… or Robin? - On IMDb, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is listed as playing John Blake, a Gotham City beat-cop (not mentioned in any of the comics) who is assigned to work with Batman in taking out Bane, or, depending on what you read, is assigned to discover Batman’s identity by Commissioner Gordon. Many fans are speculating that Nolan is using this as a rouse and that he will actually be playing Dick Grayson, the original Robin. Don’t put it past Nolan to pull such a stunt, but I don’t believe he will be portraying Dick Grayson as there have been photos of Joseph Gordon-Levitt dressed in full police get-up on the set of The Dark Knight Rises showing up online. But, in interviews, when directly asked if he will be portraying Robin, he refuses to give an answer to the question, leaving fans clamoring for an answer and keeping the internet chatter alive.

Another reason the chances that he’ll be playing Dick Grayson (Robin) are slim is that the idea of him as a beat cop is a venture from Dick Grayson’s comic origins as a member of an acrobat family known as “The Flying Grayson’s” who witnesses the murder of his family by a mafia boss, eventually being taken in by Bruce Wayne. I do think that Dick Gayson will be making an appearance though, but not as Robin, and not by Joseph Godron-Levitt.

Marion Cotillard playing Miranda Tate?… or Talia al Ghul? - According to IMDb, Marion Cotillard will be playing Miranda Tate (not mentioned in any of the comics) in The Dark Knight Rises, a Wayne Enterprises board member eager to help a still-grieving Bruce Wayne resume his father’s philanthropic endeavors for Gotham. In the comics, Talia al Ghul is the daughter of Batman Begins villain Ra’s al Ghul and is also one of Batman’s most well-known love interests – and is actually the mother of his child, Damion Wayne (the 5th Robin), later on in Batman’s career.

There’s a good chance that Marion Cotillard will be Talia al Ghul, maybe even under the persona of Miranda Tate. Could she have worked her way onto Wayne Enterprises’ board in order to get closer to her father’s adversary Bruce Wayne? No matter what her story is, she would make a great addition as competition to Catwoman as “the other girl”. What we do know is that IMDb shows a listing for a Young Talia al Ghul.

Liam Neeson as Ra’s Al Ghul, again? - At the end of Batman Begins we see Ra’s al Ghul die. In the comics though he is over 600 years old, essentially an immortal. Nolan tackled the task of making Ra’s al Ghul believable in film by making Ra’s al Ghul more of a title, rather than a birth name. If you remember, we saw two different Ra’s al Ghul’s in Batman Begins. Ken Watanabe played the first one, but when he was killed early on in the film it was revealed later that Liam Neeson’s character took over as Ra’s al Ghul.

It was a brilliant move, but it was pretty clear that Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul was killed at the end of the film, so his return in The Dark Knight Rises raises many questions. Did he survive, and how so? What will his role be? Like I mentioned above, chances are that he will be shown in flashbacks and that’s about it. What he does in the flashbacks and how they’re important to the plot is something we’ll all have to wait to see… assuming any of this this speculation is even right.

Josh Pence as Young Ra’s al Ghul – Like before, it’s clear that he will be involved in some flashback scenes, but that’s about all we can speculate on.

Young Talia al Ghul - Well, atleast we know that Talia al Ghul will be in the movie. It’s safe to assume that she’ll be seen in flashbacks involving the younger Ra’s al Ghul mentioned above.

The Scarecrow - IMDb also shows that Cillian Murphy is returning as Dr. Jonathan Crane (The Scarecrow), but why? While his involvement in the plot is unknown, you can guess that he will get more screen time than he did in The Dark Knight. Unlike in The Dark Knight where he is simply shown to let the audience know that he is still out there causing trouble, his role could be bigger this time around, although probably not as big as it was in Batman Begins. How does he escape Arkham Asylum? Does it have any ties to the Knightfall story arc where Bane sets free Arkham Asylum’s inmates?

What about Coleman Reese? - Who? Coleman Reese is the guy who accidentally discovered the real identity of Batman in The Dark Knight, piecing it together when he was assigned to dig around Wayne Enterprises finances. He was even about to reveal it to the city on TV. It wasn’t until Bruce Wayne saved his life late in the movie that he decided to keep his mouth shut.

What will he do with this knowledge in The Dark Knight Rises? And now that Batman is “the bad guy” in Gotham, admitting to knowing Batman’s identity is not something people forget. Is he involved in why there are so many tumblers on set? Wait…

Why are there so many Tumblers on set? - It could be that they’re just serving as extras for the real thing, much like a stuntman for actors. That’s probably not the case though. They’re not painted black, which hints that their not being used by Batman, and there’s leaked footage online of Batman chasing a few of them in the Batwing.

What are the chances that Bane gets a hold of the Tumbler’s blueprints, and even the technology to build them? Could Coleman Reese have anything to do with it? Again though, it’s all speculation. We just have to wait to find out.

There are just so many unknowns going into The Dark Knight Rises, so let’s take a deeper look at some of the questions we really want to know the answers to on the next page…

7 Comments

Dude… Liam Neeson was always Ra’s in the first movie. He told Bruce the other man was Ra’s in order to observe and befriend him without Bruce knowing he was the head honcho. I gather it was to size him up and figure out if he was right for the task ahead. It makes sense that it would be a title passed on, making the man essentially ‘immortal’ but that’s not what was implied in Batman Begins. It was implied that Ra’s deceived Bruce.

We don’t really know for sure if Liam Neeson’s character was Ra’s the entire time or if he was the successor. The hint at both of these near the end of the film. IMDb lists Ken Watanabe as Ra’s and it is pretty clear that he is the leader of the clan early on in Batman Begins. Anyways, I simply chose to go with what I thought was the most believable choice.